In the first post of this series, I posed the following question:
If the primary emphasis of the church is on ‘making disciples,’ then why do we not see an ever-increasing growth in both the numerical numbers and, especially, in the overall maturity and health of Christians in America?
We concluded that the primary reasons are that the church has no clear definition and processes based on God’s true, unfolding story. In this post, I will begin to define discipleship based on these parameters. But first, we must examine what discipleship is not.
Discipleship is not “Come and Learn.”
It is often wrongly assumed that people who know a lot about the Bible are mature in their faith. Discipleship is not simply a process of growing in our understanding of biblical knowledge. One can, for example, properly know the profound doctrines of God’s sovereignty over all things but remain unaffected by them. One could understand the difference between systematic and biblical theologies and still be emotionally immature and possess no deep, meaningful relationships in their life. Just because someone knows a lot about the Bible does not make them mature in their faith.
However, the church, consciously or subconsciously, often reinforces this pathway for discipleship. Here is a hyperbolic example. Notice the structure and pathways.
Once an individual becomes a follower of Christ, they are placed into a “discipleship” class where they are taught the basics of the Christian faith. They are instructed in the authority of the Bible, the importance of attending “church,” and, among other things, why it is important to give money to the church. After the discipleship class ends, they are encouraged to get involved with the church. This means attending church services, where they are taught more about the Bible, and they may even be encouraged to participate in a “small group,” where, guess what, they have another bible study.
The subconscious way churches primarily seek to mature their people is through information transfer. This pathway the church has set in place to accomplish its discipleship method is “Come and Learn.” Come to our building and to our programs to learn more about the Bible.
Discipleship is not “Come and Obey.”
At this point, someone will say: “This is obvious because being mature in one’s faith is not just about being knowers of the Word but being doers of the Word.” And to this point, I agree. Of course, discipleship is not measured by how much you know unless you put it into practice. However, what is the practice we are talking about? (We talkin’ about practice??) Yes, we need to define what is meant by practice.
I believe the “practice” we are talking about is not story informed as much as it is ethically informed. What do I mean? The practice of discipleship, for most Christians, is morality-shaped obedience. Discipleship becomes nothing more than a quest to become a better version of ourselves—a self that stays away from sin. This mindset is not discipleship; it is sin management. We are trying to keep our sins at bay. If we can sin less, we are being doers of the Word.
Thus, a second way discipleship is measured is by the ethical conformity of one’s life to the life of Jesus. In other words, holiness or obedience becomes the sum total of discipleship. We might call this pathway “Come and Obey.”
There are at least two problems with this understanding of discipleship.
First, being conformed to the image of Jesus is not simply becoming sinless. Many Christians believe their goal is to conform to Jesus’s image (cf. Rom 8.29). This is true. Yet, being conformed to the image of Jesus is more than, not less than, ethical behaviors. We need to go back to the beginning of the Bible to understand what Paul means by image. The biblical concept of image finds its origins in Genesis 1.26-28. Here, man and woman are said to be made in the image of God. This image does not refer to physical, ethical, or mental realities.
A better translation to help us better understand the image concept is to change the preposition from “in” to “as.” God created us as His image. It is what humanity was made to be. It is an ontological statement, not something we mold ourselves into. As his image bearers, we were made to possess an intimate relationship with him as royal sons and daughters. Humans’ unique status also means they have responsibilities as God’s image. Man and woman were to image God by representing him on and ruling over the earth he created. Image language connotes both identity and missional aspects. Ethical behaviors are all tied up in this concept; however, they are not the primary idea behind the picture.
All of this means that if we tie the goal of discipleship to being conformed to the image of Jesus, it means far more than mere obedience to the Bible’s commands.
The second reason is experiential. The uniqueness of Christianity is that our righteousness does not determine our justification. This is why our neighbors, who do not claim to follow Jesus, often appear nicer and kind than most of the Christians we know! Do you have neighbors who are some of the kindest people you know but are far from following Jesus? And I am aware of the heart aspect- that the unbelievers’ niceness is not tied to Gospel truths but to self-righteousness. But still, if the goal of discipleship is to be a better version of ourselves, I wonder if our neighbors will always be better disciples than us?!?!
Discipleship is “Come and Follow.”
Jesus does not call his followers to “Come and Learn” nor to “Come and Obey.” He says, “Come and Follow.”
When my children were younger, I asked them to follow me up a mountain trail in the Adirondacks because we were going to the top! There are not many better views in the world than at the top of an Adirondack High Peak! They didn’t know how to get there without me. Along the way, I would teach them how to traverse rock structures, make their way across wet ground, and where to place their feet amidst tree roots. There was far more joy when they helped each other cross small wooden bridges, shared their water and trail mix, and encouraged each other. But they all knew the objective and wanted to get to the top! The goal was not simply to learn proper techniques of mountain climbing, nor was it to simply be kind and help each other along the path. No. It was participating with each other, helping each other achieve the mission of getting to the top!
Following Jesus implies that he is going somewhere and accomplishing something. Jesus entered into an already ongoing story that he is bringing to its conclusion. And He has invited us to follow him by participating in that story. Yet, if we do not know what God’s story entails, then how can we participate? How can we truly follow Jesus if we are unaware of what he is up to? The only way to understand what Jesus is doing in and for the world is to see the story he entered into and is fulfilling. To follow Jesus demands that we know and participate in his story.
With this in mind, I offer the following definition of discipleship:
Discipleship is the progressive transformation of one’s life story into the story of God by playing their Spirit-given role.
This definition encompasses ethics because, as we will see next time, ethics are story formed. It includes biblical knowledge because how can one participate in a story they do not know? However, both ethics and knowledge are part of discipleship. They are not the ends nor are they the standard. Jesus has invited us to follow him into the story he is fulfilling, and he has equipped us through his Spirit to accomplish this task. Thus discipleship is following Jesus and participating in God’s story, thereby abandoning the cultural stories that shape us, by playing our Spirit-given role.
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